Assistant superintendent Dan Raines told members of the Russellville School Board Tuesday that the district received a good response from members of the state standards compliance review team.

"There were over 100 specific items they checked the schools on, and the most marks they gave us that we need to improve on was three," Raines said. "Most of those were relatively minor things, and are things we have already addressed and have ready to report to the state."

Raines said some of the things that were noted as needing to be improved included a listing in student handbooks of minimums and maximums for disciplinary measures that will be taken if students violate school rules.

He also said the compliance review team said all substitute teachers and volunteers who work in school buildings should be made aware of the schools' discipline policies. Raines said the schools have given handouts to workers at each building but have not documented that the workers received the information.

He said that step would be added to the policy for all schools in the district.

At the district level and at one school building - Dwight Elementary - Raines said the compliance review team gave a report with "no black marks."

Superintendent Danny Taylor was complimentary of the administrators, teachers and other staff members who worked hard to keep the district in compliance.

"For every one of those 100 items they checked, that's hundreds of thousands of things we're doing right," Taylor said. "For a team to come down and monitor us to that extent and to find only three things of minor significance is phenomenal."

In other business Tuesday, the board approved policy recommendations from the classified personnel policy committee (PPC) to change the number of months an employee may take a leave of absence without pay to 12 months. To be eligible for the leave, the employee must have been employed 10 years or more. The board did not approve a request from the classified PPC to change the sick leave policy.

The board also voted not to approve a request from the certified PPC to change the personal leave policy regarding sick leave. The PPC requested the policy be changed to prevent teachers from having substitute pay charged against them when they are on sick leave.

However, the board did approve a request from the certified PPC, contingent upon approval from the state Department of Education, to change the calendar year for staff development for the upcoming year. The PPC requested the 2005-06 calendar begin June 1 instead of July 1.

Taylor said the state allows a district the option to choose whether to begin its calendar for staff development in June or July. He said he had no problem with the change, as long as it was approved by the state department.

He did caution representatives of the PPC that the change could leave some faculty members short the required 60 hours of professional development.

"If we change, that could leave some of the staff with 54 hours instead of 60 hours as required by the state," Taylor said. "I would hate to have a hard, fast decision that we're going to June and leave some people hanging."

The board referred a policy to the certified PPC that would change the number of professional development hours credited to an employee who completes a college course from 12 to 15. The board will take action on that policy at its June meeting.

Board members approved an ethics disclosure resolution for Jane Clausen. The resolution discloses Clausen's relationship with D&C Trash Services, a company the district wishes to contract for its solid waste disposal services. The resolution will be sent to the Department of Education for its approval, and action on the solid waste disposal contract will be taken at a future meeting.

The board approved a bid from Heral Enterprises of Little Rock for custodial floor care products. The bid, for $24,693, was the lowest bid received, according to business manager Nathan Barber.

A right-of-way permit form the city of Russellville related to East 16th Street improvements was approved by the board. Taylor said the city will purchase a portion of the property at Oakland Heights Elementary for the street project at a cost of $7,214. The money will go to the school for use by its Parent Teacher Organization.

Contracts for copier equipment and copier service and maintenance were also approved by the board. The contract for copier equipment was with Arkansas Copier Center, Inc. of Little Rock and will be effective July 1-Dec. 30.

The contract for service and maintenance was with Wight Office Machines of Russellville and will be effective July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006.

Board members approved the replacement of equipment at the Upper Elementary computer lab and the high school Tech Lab. Barber said the cost for the replacement is $42,072 and will fund 29 Gateway computers for each lab. He said the equipment would be purchased through the State Purchasing Department.

Taylor announced Molly Moore, daughter of board president Kevin Moore, was selected as a recipient of an Arkansas School Boards Association Education Foundation Scholarship.

The board approved travel requests for three teachers to accompany Caitlyn Swain, junior high student, and Caitlin Sawyer, high school student, to the National History Day competition in Maryland.

Swain and Sawyer both qualified to compete nationally at state competitions held in April. The students gave presentations to the board about their projects. Swain's project was a multimedia documentary on Nellie Bly, while Sawyer's was an individual exhibit on hieroglyphics.

The national competition will be held June 11-18.

A travel request for Area VoTech students to attend the National SkillsUSA competition June 20-25 in Kansas City was also approved.

Board members approved new positions for the 2005-06 school year, including five art teachers and a fourth grade teacher. The board also voted to reinstate a human services worker position, which will be housed at Crawford Elementary.

The board also approved the addition of a bus driver II position to the classified salary schedule.